glitteryv: (Default)
Glittery ([personal profile] glitteryv) wrote2025-08-28 12:41 pm

Fannish 50 S3 Post 34: Jin and his Unique Tour

At the end of the last (as of the date of this post) episode of Run Seokjin, an announcement was made that Jin was GOING ON TOUR!!! This 18-date, 9-city tour (titled #RunSeokjin_EP. Tour) ended up being unlike anything else I've seen.

Yes, Jin sang most of his solo catalogue (including his two solo albums). BUT the "twist" in the concerts is that they were designed to be an extension of his variety show. So there would be games played between him and ARMY, there would be "penalties", and a lot of happy chaos.

Due to the short planning period (IIRC, he and Jin Crew (his team) had abt 4 months to set everything up), the tour had few stops. OTOH, however, these included cities in South Korea, Japan, the US, England, and the Netherlands. Every venue sold out. There were two special live screenings for the first and last shows (one online, the other one at the movie theater.) Ppl DRESSED UP and SHOWED UP R-E-A-D-Y to sing with and cheer Jin along. It was an overall magical tour that got everyone feeling equal amounts of šŸ˜,🄰, and 🤩.

As of right now, there's no official way to rewatch any of the shows (except if you bought a ticket for the opening weekend performances. Then you can watch it on Weverse.) THAT SAID, where there's a will, there's a way: there most deffo are places to find uploads. Also, a lot of the performances are on YT as fancams.

Here's a 31-minute Bangtan Bomb abt the opening weekend. The cameras follow Jin as he gets to the venue, warms up, does soundcheck, and performs. I like how it gives a clearer picture as to how, despite not having any dancers, choreo, or a spectacular stage set, Jin's tour was AMAZING.

Bonus: the rest of the Tannies attended on different days. RM, Hobi, and Taehyung went to Day 1 while Jimin, Jungkook, and Yoongi went to Day 2.




NB for the next two videos: they're bona fide fancams. So the sound might not be the best AND there aren't subtitiles. However, they're really great examples of what the VIBESSS were like at Jin's concerts and why ppl had such a fantastic time in person as well as at home (watching livestreams.)

As shown in the video above, one of the things that Jin did during the concert was be "forced" to wear one of the outfits he wore in his Run Seokjin episodes when it was time to perform "Super Tuna". This one instance, he had to wear the sauna outfit...




Finally, here's video of Jin and Red Velvet's Wendy performing their song "Heart on the Window". This was the second time they performed it live and it was just as GLORIOUS as the one time they sang at Jin's showcase. Added context to their convo (since I watched it live): Jin thanks Wendy for singing with him, she thanks him back. Then she starts to talk to the audience and Jin (v. playfully) shoos her off the stage. I lurve their sibling energy, LOL.

pensnest: Mucha pic of sensuous woman (Lush Lips)
pensnest ([personal profile] pensnest) wrote2025-08-28 03:32 pm

mama's got a squeezebox

Today I learned a couple of interesting things about pelvic floor exercises )
klb: (Default)
podklb ([personal profile] klb) wrote in [community profile] pod_together2025-08-28 07:31 am
Entry tags:

Day 1 Reveals 2025

Beneath the Weight [text, audio] (Star Wars: Rebels)
written by [archiveofourown.org profile] wanderingjedihistorian, performed by [archiveofourown.org profile] Flowerparrish
Summary: There was a group of Wookiees being moved to Kessel and Hera Syndulla desperately wanted to find them.
More, it was imperative that…mission happen exactly as it had. Without everything that happened during that operation, Kallus didn’t know if Ezra would choose to join the Ghost crew and let Kanan train him. Above all else, that needed to happen.

D's bring about change (One Piece (Anime & Manga))
written by [archiveofourown.org profile] Lerya, performed by [archiveofourown.org profile] GodOfLaundryBaskets
Summary: Law never knew what the will of D meant. He suspects he doesn't have it as much as others do.
Then he meets Monkey D. Luffy and knows for a fact that this man does have it. There is no other reason why he would go around punching Celestial Dragons and declaring war on the World Government. It's entertaining as hell though.
Sticking around, he's with Luffy when Kuma sends him and his crew away, leading to an extra ally in Marineford which will bring about another change.

A Matter of Blood (The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner)
written by [archiveofourown.org profile] Lalaith_Quetzalli, performed by [archiveofourown.org profile] farkenshnoffingottom
Summary: They make it to the Safe Haven. Against all expectations and seemingly insurmountable odds, they do. At first all they can do is rest, recover, grow used to being truly free. But once the fear has truly passed, once they begin to settle. That’s when the time comes for the questions, and some answers none of them ever saw coming…

Our Place (Magic Kaito)
written by [archiveofourown.org profile] Dokuhan, performed by [archiveofourown.org profile] Nymphie_Wolf
Summary: Sometimes, the smallest comforts can help the largest emotional hurts.
In their childhood, Aoko has a bad day and Kaito does what he can to help. Years later, Aoko returns the favor.

Two Sides of a Trick Coin (One Piece (Live Action TV 2023))
written by [archiveofourown.org profile] estelraca, performed by [archiveofourown.org profile] GodOfLaundryBaskets
Summary: Everyone assumes Zoro and Luffy have a psychic connection.
They don't, and they really hate it when they finally do.
Sometimes all you need to do is see another person to know them.

the company job (Leverage (US TV 2008))
written by [archiveofourown.org profile] BubblesKat, performed by [archiveofourown.org profile] ShakespeareStoleMyURL and [archiveofourown.org profile] BubblesKat
Summary: The Leverage team gets a new client. The marks own a theatre. The only logical solution is to do a long con production of the musical Company.

The House That Waited [text, audio] (Stranger Things (TV 2016))
written by [archiveofourown.org profile] patientanxiety, performed by [archiveofourown.org profile] Jet_pods
Summary: They meant it to be a routine check. One last run-through of Hawkins' dark landmarks, just to be sure. No more Upside Down. No more gates. Just overgrown lots and burnt-out memories. But the Creel House still stood, its silhouette jagged and resentful against the evening sky.
Eddie and Steve soon find out that a routine check on the Creel House turns into a fight for their lives.

Between Worlds [text, audio] (Avatar: The Last Airbender (Cartoon 2005), Andromeda (TV))
written by [archiveofourown.org profile] Nicky_Gabriel, performed by [archiveofourown.org profile] 429_CarCrash
Summary: Yue and Bato’s life changing conversation about life, the universe and everything. As they are trapped in the fourth dimension, facing the evilest being that ever existed, the answer is not always 42. Fortunately, they are the luckiest people in the Universe.

The Inheritance of Dreams (One Piece (Live Action TV 2023))
written by [archiveofourown.org profile] estelraca, performed by [archiveofourown.org profile] kaisicle-podfics
Summary: At first Garp doesn't believe that Red-Leg Zeff might actually be trying to settle down and open a restaurant, but as the two exchange letters, he starts to believe maybe it's possible for a pirate to change his stripes.

So Long and Lost (The Devil Wears Prada (2006))
written by [archiveofourown.org profile] schwanenkoenigin, performed by [archiveofourown.org profile] wilfriede0815
Summary: Miranda writes a letter to her late wife, Andrea.

Put up with the rain (Ultraman Arc (TV))
written by [archiveofourown.org profile] alchemicink, performed by [archiveofourown.org profile] bluedreaming
Summary:

"Looks like the storm ought to blow over quickly."
"That's good."
Shu is about to just go back up to the office to wait, but then Yuma plops down on the top step, which is still shielded from the rain by the overhang above. He glances upwards towards Shu with a friendly smile that pierces right through his dreary mood.
"You can wait with me if you want, Mr. Ishido."

Five rainy days Shu experiences in Hoshimoto City

write to me, in time [text, audio] (9-1-1 (TV))
written by [archiveofourown.org profile] coffee_and_cardamom, performed by [archiveofourown.org profile] 42donotpanic
Summary: Buck and Eddie write letters across time. Or: The Lakehouse AU.

I'm sorry, did I stutter when I said to shut up or? (Batman - All Media Types, Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010))
written by [archiveofourown.org profile] Yuurei and [archiveofourown.org profile] kbirb, performed by [archiveofourown.org profile] kbirb
Summary: Breaking News: Trans Crimelord Hates Transphobes!
turps: (beach)
turps ([personal profile] turps) wrote2025-08-27 05:09 pm

(no subject)

My MiL's visit is going nicely so far.

We went out for a drive Saturday, went for lunch at our favourite beach restaurant on Sunday, went to Whitley Bay for a drive on bank holiday Monday then went to see Corey where I got to hug the stuffing out of him. I'll just skirt over the morning where I sat on the wall outside the gym waiting for it to open, only to discover my branch doesn't open at all on bank holidays.

We drove to Sea Houses yesterday, which was another lovely sunny day. Then today was class and an afternoon at home, because as much as she complains she doesn't get out, it's obvious my MiL doesn't have the stamina to go out every day without some downtime.

Today, Rosie told us she's starting an exercise only class from next Monday, using the time slot we used to have. She asked if there was anything people wanted including, and I made the rookie error of saying nothing I wanted to be included, but no more walking lunges, please. Guess what she's decided to add, for sure? Honestly, I never learn.

James also got a cancellation for his back injections so he's getting those Saturday evening. Kayleigh is driving us there and back, then some recovery time and hopefully, he'll be back to work.

My SiL and her family are at a holiday camp close to the wildfire on the Yorkshire moors. They were supposed to be there until Friday, but are coming back today instead, taking the train as the main road is closed. They're going to stay with my SiL's partner's mam for a couple of days, then come home on Saturday. But I must admit, I'm kinda hoping that they come home Friday instead so we can drop off my MiL then and have a bit more breathing room on the Sat.
pensnest: A tabby cat looks down balefully from a high shelf.  Caption: Princess Fluffykins is watching you (Princess Fluffykins is watching you)
pensnest ([personal profile] pensnest) wrote2025-08-27 04:52 pm

the only cat who knows where it's at

If there were a Big Cat fandom, surely this guy would be featured in 98% of the fic?
Read more... )
shadowhive: (Rust Pretty)
shadowhive ([personal profile] shadowhive) wrote2025-08-27 11:19 am

Yonder spooky woods

It’s time again for another post, this time it’s almost entirely reviews of various things.

Cabinet Of Curiosities

Over the past nights I have continued my Cabinet Of Curiosities run with Dreams In The Witch House and The Viewing.

Dreams, like Pickman’s model is a Lovecraft adaption. I dunno how faithful it is to the original (tv tropes says not really) but I just know the man would have hated that two of the characters were played by black women.

The main actor in this one was Robert Grint, as a guy who lost his twin sister when he was younger and is obsessed with finding her in the afterlife after seeing her spirit get taken. He does a pretty good job with what he’s given and plays it pretty well. And there is some good other stuff in there, like the paintings (I’ve never seen triangular paintings before) and the visuals of vines/branches dragging him in the afterlife but…

There’s this rat thing with a human face and he is just… it’s strange and not in a good way and kinda takes away from it (not helped by the accent that he’s been given). And it really took away from the final scenes too.

6/10

The Viewing was the one I was most excited to see from the synopsises and it started promising. With a group of people being gathered to a rich guys house to view… something. What surprised me was the setting was the 70’s but I really loved the vibes, the electronic music, and the aesthetics of the rich guys house so I was hopeful it’d be good.

The rich guy clearly picked these people for a reason (and knew a concerning amount about them all) and then they got plied with booze (and drugs) before the titular viewing happened. It was a mystery object and it had an eerie vibe to it… but then it opened up and went down hill a bit.

With a thing like this one it’s the reveal that matters and, to be honest, it wasn’t a great one. Partly it was the design, partly what happened to the people but I dunno I just didn’t vibe with it which is a shame as the build up was good (until the drugs came out)

5/10

Clown In A Cornfield

So I finally finished the first Clown In A Cornfield book. Yipee! I probably would have finished it soon but my focus just hasn’t been there and being at the library today meant I could. I only intended to read a few chapters but it just pulled me along and I had to finish it (only pausing to get hime and have lunch)

It was really good! I’m glad I read it and it made me love Cole, Rust and Quinn all the more. Of course having watched the film first there were obvious comparisons between it. The film did make some changes, most understandable. But honestly? The killings being a one off thing feels better than the film where it happens every few decades. That kinda felt it was only done to have the opening scene of the film happen which, yeah was well done but ultimate caused more issues and took away from the suspense of other parts.

But anyway! Like I said it made me love Quinn even more and the scene of the big damn kiss at the end… I just loved that. Quinn being terrified that something had happened to Cole and he was getting cpr only for it to become clear it was actually a kiss.

9/10

The book did have a preview chapter of the second one, which made me wanna get it even more. The problem is it’s out of stock pretty much everywhere so does anyone know any book sites?

Also the film is getting its uk dvd/blu ray release next month and I hope we get that cool steelbook America has.

I was debating going to the cinema today, cause my eye had felt strange and with the library today, and there was dark clouds so I felt there’d be a storm. Said storm didn’t come so I ended up going. I got some earphones since mine inexplicably stopped working (I’m not sure about them), got a lil Halloween spooky succulent and a sonic mystery capsule. I opened it up and inside was Shadow! I took it as a sign to go to smyths since the site had sonic x shadow generations for over Ā£10 but alas no, that offer wasn’t in store (it was only Ā£2 off) but there was a shadow Funko so I picked him up.

Film thoughts under the cut but first trailers!

Freakier Friday had a bunch of things I’d not seen of heard of. (Wicked For Good was one I’d seen before and there was a different I Swear trailer). Regretting You isn’t something I’d wanna see probably. Good Fortune has Keane Reeves as an angel which feels like it could be a fun concept. A Big Bold Beautiful Journey seemed to be a romantic thing to start with but then went more… strange so I’m slightly curious about that.

The mystery film trailers were almost identical to the ones for Weapons, though I think the Him trailer was slightly different and this one also had fnaf 2. It’s funny thought that all but Him were sequels.

Read more... )

Sadly there’s not another mystery film listed which is a shame. Maybe there will be closer to spooky season but who knows. The next cinema trip might be next week, cause ai am thinking of seeing Jaws but if not it’ll be for the Thunderbirds thing in a few weeks.

I did see a fic meme post Monday that I am working on doing (so that might be the next post). It probably would’ve been done yesterday morning but as I was at the library I didn’t finish it (I did some then got sidetrack by Clown. (And I might post pics I wanna flail over then too)
shmaylor: (Default)
shmaylor ([personal profile] shmaylor) wrote in [community profile] pod_together2025-08-26 09:57 pm

2025 Posting Schedule

Here is the 2025 Posting Schedule! The mods will reveal the work on AO3 on your posting day; participants should plan to update the posting date on their work so it'll show up on fandom RSS feeds and at the top of the fandom tag when sorted by date. Unfortunately, AO3 won't let you list a posting date in the future so you'll have to manually change it on your reveal date. (We'll send you an email reminder about this on the day of your reveal.)

For now, the links on this schedule will just take you to unrevealed posts, but once each day is revealed, the links will take you to the projects and this post will double as a masterlist for all our 2025 projects!

  • Reminder #1: Party Favors are due September 6th, and will be revealed September 7th. To submit a Party Favor, simply publish it to the Pod_Together 2025 AO3 collection

  • Reminder #2: To those participants with extensions, please remember that your due date is our agreed-upon extension date, not your posting date. However, if you would like to turn in a complete, postable version at your deadline and then update it between then and your posting date with changes, you may.

  • Reminder #3: Don't forget to give your partner(s) some appreciation for the awesome creations you made together!


2025 Posting Schedule )

Please leave a comment here, or email the mods, if there are any conflicts or issues with your posting dates or if any info on this posting schedule is incorrect and needs to be fixed.

We're so excited to reveal all of your projects!
denise: Image: Me, facing away from camera, on top of the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome (Default)
Denise ([staff profile] denise) wrote in [site community profile] dw_news2025-08-26 12:24 am

Mississippi legal challenge: beginning 1 September, we will need to geoblock Mississippi IPs

I'll start with the tl;dr summary to make sure everyone sees it and then explain further: As of September 1, we will temporarily be forced to block access to Dreamwidth from all IP addresses that geolocate to Mississippi for legal reasons. This block will need to continue until we either win the legal case entirely, or the district court issues another injunction preventing Mississippi from enforcing their social media age verification and parental consent law against us.

Mississippi residents, we are so, so sorry. We really don't want to do this, but the legal fight we and Netchoice have been fighting for you had a temporary setback last week. We genuinely and honestly believe that we're going to win it in the end, but the Fifth Circuit appellate court said that the district judge was wrong to issue the preliminary injunction back in June that would have maintained the status quo and prevented the state from enforcing the law requiring any social media website (which is very broadly defined, and which we definitely qualify as) to deanonymize and age-verify all users and obtain parental permission from the parent of anyone under 18 who wants to open an account.

Netchoice took that appellate ruling up to the Supreme Court, who declined to overrule the Fifth Circuit with no explanation -- except for Justice Kavanaugh agreeing that we are likely to win the fight in the end, but saying that it's no big deal to let the state enforce the law in the meantime.

Needless to say, it's a big deal to let the state enforce the law in the meantime. The Mississippi law is a breathtaking state overreach: it forces us to verify the identity and age of every person who accesses Dreamwidth from the state of Mississippi and determine who's under the age of 18 by collecting identity documents, to save that highly personal and sensitive information, and then to obtain a permission slip from those users' parents to allow them to finish creating an account. It also forces us to change our moderation policies and stop anyone under 18 from accessing a wide variety of legal and beneficial speech because the state of Mississippi doesn't like it -- which, given the way Dreamwidth works, would mean blocking people from talking about those things at all. (And if you think you know exactly what kind of content the state of Mississippi doesn't like, you're absolutely right.)

Needless to say, we don't want to do that, either. Even if we wanted to, though, we can't: the resources it would take for us to build the systems that would let us do it are well beyond our capacity. You can read the sworn declaration I provided to the court for some examples of how unworkable these requirements are in practice. (That isn't even everything! The lawyers gave me a page limit!)

Unfortunately, the penalties for failing to comply with the Mississippi law are incredibly steep: fines of $10,000 per user from Mississippi who we don't have identity documents verifying age for, per incident -- which means every time someone from Mississippi loaded Dreamwidth, we'd potentially owe Mississippi $10,000. Even a single $10,000 fine would be rough for us, but the per-user, per-incident nature of the actual fine structure is an existential threat. And because we're part of the organization suing Mississippi over it, and were explicitly named in the now-overturned preliminary injunction, we think the risk of the state deciding to engage in retaliatory prosecution while the full legal challenge continues to work its way through the courts is a lot higher than we're comfortable with. Mississippi has been itching to issue those fines for a while, and while normally we wouldn't worry much because we're a small and obscure site, the fact that we've been yelling at them in court about the law being unconstitutional means the chance of them lumping us in with the big social media giants and trying to fine us is just too high for us to want to risk it. (The excellent lawyers we've been working with are Netchoice's lawyers, not ours!)

All of this means we've made the extremely painful decision that our only possible option for the time being is to block Mississippi IP addresses from accessing Dreamwidth, until we win the case. (And I repeat: I am absolutely incredibly confident we'll win the case. And apparently Justice Kavanaugh agrees!) I repeat: I am so, so sorry. This is the last thing we wanted to do, and I've been fighting my ass off for the last three years to prevent it. But, as everyone who follows the legal system knows, the Fifth Circuit is gonna do what it's gonna do, whether or not what they want to do has any relationship to the actual law.

We don't collect geolocation information ourselves, and we have no idea which of our users are residents of Mississippi. (We also don't want to know that, unless you choose to tell us.) Because of that, and because access to highly accurate geolocation databases is extremely expensive, our only option is to use our network provider's geolocation-based blocking to prevent connections from IP addresses they identify as being from Mississippi from even reaching Dreamwidth in the first place. I have no idea how accurate their geolocation is, and it's possible that some people not in Mississippi might also be affected by this block. (The inaccuracy of geolocation is only, like, the 27th most important reason on the list of "why this law is practically impossible for any site to comply with, much less a tiny site like us".)

If your IP address is identified as coming from Mississippi, beginning on September 1, you'll see a shorter, simpler version of this message and be unable to proceed to the site itself. If you would otherwise be affected, but you have a VPN or proxy service that masks your IP address and changes where your connection appears to come from, you won't get the block message, and you can keep using Dreamwidth the way you usually would.

On a completely unrelated note while I have you all here, have I mentioned lately that I really like ProtonVPN's service, privacy practices, and pricing? They also have a free tier available that, although limited to one device, has no ads or data caps and doesn't log your activity, unlike most of the free VPN services out there. VPNs are an excellent privacy and security tool that every user of the internet should be familiar with! We aren't affiliated with Proton and we don't get any kickbacks if you sign up with them, but I'm a satisfied customer and I wanted to take this chance to let you know that.

Again, we're so incredibly sorry to have to make this announcement, and I personally promise you that I will continue to fight this law, and all of the others like it that various states are passing, with every inch of the New Jersey-bred stubborn fightiness you've come to know and love over the last 16 years. The instant we think it's less legally risky for us to allow connections from Mississippi IP addresses, we'll undo the block and let you know.

glitteryv: (Default)
Glittery ([personal profile] glitteryv) wrote2025-08-25 12:00 pm

Fannish 50 S3 Post 33: A ranking of BTS documentaries

This post is abt 8 of BTS' docus--including a quick overview of what each one is abt, my opinion on them, where they're available for streaming, a score (out of 5), and trailers for each.


Let me be nice cuz it's Monday and this post is pretty long...
Group documentaries

I'm placing the spotlight on the first and the latest of the already-released docus.

Burn the Stage (2018) consists of 8 episodes that cover the time period from debut (2013) up to the Wings Tour (2017). This is content I've returned to a few times. What makes it special is the level of rawness in what is shown; the members being so unguarded in a way that I doubt we will ever see again. Adding to that are the dramatic things that happen during the tour (including injuries, ppl losing their passports, etc.) . I find it super fascinating to see past!BTS and compare them to their current selves.

The first ep is available for free ninety-nine on YouTube. If you have a YT Premium account, you can watch the rest of eps too.

Le Trailer





BTS Monuments: Beyond the Star dropped in 2023 as an 8-episode miniseries on Disney+. Although not presented in linear form, the series does cover a little bit from pre-debut era up to early 2023. It gets an extra kudos from me cuz they compressed the often-trod LYS Era and tour to a single episode (number 3.) HALLELU!

The reason for my \o/ is cuz this meant there was enough space for other things to be covered*. I also appreciated seeing the guys discuss things in a more frank manner. Finally, the last two eps have additional footage (including some of the members' homes). It ends riiiight around the first year of Chapter 2 as enlistment era begins.

THAT SAID, I'm not sure how well the series works for locals? Especially with the time jumps and certain things (that, again, have been covered in other content and docus) being mentioned rather than dove into. FWIW, the series feels geared more toward ARMYs more than anyone else. WOMAN SHRUG EMOJI.

In between these two docus I've mentioned, there are two other ones (Bring the Soul (2019) and Break the Silence (2020).) AFAIK, both are available as paid content on Weverse, as part of the Kocowa subscription, and in certain Netflix regions.

* Gotta mention that I know a lot of ARMYs love these docus a ton. OTOH, there are some cool/key scenes that make them worth checking out. Including things that have become important highlights in BTS' history (for both shippy and non-shippy reasons.) OTOH, however, both cover THE SAME TIME PERIOD. Bring the Soul focuses on the Love Yourself Tour (62 shows, 2018-2019) while Break the Silence dives into the Love Yourself: Speak Yourself tour extension (20 shows, May-October 2019.)

And so, to me, they feel repetitive. YMMV, etc.




Here's a bonus!trailer for the Permission To Dance Los Angeles concert (available on D+).





Docus that focus on Chapter 2 (solo) in ascending order

6. J-Hope IN THE BOX (2023) - Streaming on D+ and also available as paid content on Weverse. This is an hour and a half of Hobi working on Jack in the Box, his first solo album, including the albu's listening party. The second half or so of the film is abt him preparing to take the (eventual) headliner stage at 2022 Lollapalooza Chicago. It's a good intro to seeing the level of professionalism that fuels him as well as all of the moving parts (choreo, music, etc) involved in that v. important and historic performance.

Once he's in dancer mode, he's super focused to the point of making the viewer awe at him.

The reason why I ranked it last is cuz there are two behind-the-scenes Bangtan Bombs for the "Arson" and "More" MVs, an 11-min Bangtan Bomb for the listening party, another one for the album photoshoot, a 22-min Bangtan Episode abt the v. same thing PLUS an hour and 16 minute recording of his entire Lolla set. So, to me, all of this content is an abbreviated version of the docu. The movie does have a handful of additional scenes (especially when it comes to Hobi writing and recording the album, but not enough for me to feel more enthusiastic abt this specific docu. Locals and casuals might end up enjoying it a lot more. I'm giving it a 2.3 out of 5




5. I'm Still (2024) - Streaming on D+. An hour and 30-min docu (split into three episodes) that covers the 8 or so months leading up to AND performances of JK's first solo album Golden. Although I liked seeing the focus on Jungkook, I felt quite meh abt it overall.

CONFESSION TIME: out of all of Chapter 2's solo releases, Jungkook's is the one that I found just okay. IDK! "Standing Next to You" is a good song, I liked "SEVEN", and yet...

He was v. clear as to what his goals were for his first solo album; kudos to him for achieving them! HOWEVAH, compared to other stuff he's released before it (like "Stay", "My Time", and "Begin"), I'm underwhelmed with his new music. Again, there are some good moments, but my neutral feels abt it have expanded to this docu as well. *Hands*.

THAT SAID, there ARE some good and OJO moments. And, it ends (just like the BTS Monuments docu) on a half-bittersweet, half-tender moment as SPOILER Jungkook shaves his head as he prepares to enlist END OF SPOILER. Anyways, I'm giving this a 2.4 out of 5




4. HOPE on the Street (2024) - A 6-episode miniseries that is available on Amazon Prime Video. It's got a companion album under the same name. Each song of that album's tracklist is a title of an episode in this miniseries.

Viewers join Hobi as he travels to the US, France, Japan, and also films in some parts of South Korea. Each episode centers on a specific dance style (like pop-and-lock, house, etc.) One of the things that made it such a delightful watch was seeing how much Hobi respects and loves dance. He understands and loves it to the point of remaining curious and wanting to continue learning despite having spent decades perfecting his own dance language. My fave ep was the Paris, France episode. A+++ vibes.

The cutest surprises pop up at the end of the each 30-min. episode in the form of showing some behind-the-scenes footage of the album recording (including each of the artists who featured.) I'm giving it a 3 out of 5.




3. Road to D-Day (2023) - SUGA, a.k.a. Min Yoongi, dropped an hour and half docu that's available on Disney+ and as paid content on Weverse. It follows him working on D-Day while traveling to California, Las Vegas, Tokyo, and some places in Korea. Along the way he meets up with some famous artists. There are lots of scenes of him working at his craft, getting frustrated, and then diving back into the process.

It was brutally honest on the ins and outs of songwriting. Pushing aside the "mystique" and more esoteric aspect of creativity to showcase the reality of music pursuits. There are tons of scenes where Yoongi's working on a song, trashing it, and then tweaking what he needed to tweak in order to make the song actually listenable. I also love the different performances throughout. It's one of my fave docus for sure. I'm giving it a 4 out of 5.




2. Jimin's Production Diary - A v. surprising entry! This is one of those docus I wish more ppl would watch. It's got Jimin, PDogg, GHSTLOOP, and EVAN doing a mini-songwriting camp at PDogg's apartment as they work in what would eventually become FACE, Jimin's first solo album.

There's a quick scene with RM (lending songwriting help) and Jungkook (who shows up to do vocals for "Letter"). The bulk of the ppl onscreen are Jimin and the three BigHit producers writing, joking, and coming up with melodies.

Part of the reason I love it is how it's proof that Jimin was quite hands-on with his first album. Other than Jin, he's had a general image of not being quite as involved with the songwriting. [This is, btw, despite the fact that he's contributed to a lot of BTS' music through the years. But I digress…] I do fully understand how Jimin's singing and dancing skills are eye-catching. He should most deffo be celebrated for displaying his artistry using his voice and body! Buuuut, that's not all that he is. And so I like the way that this documentary is able to reveal more of him as a person who is insecure but cute and impish but also lovely.

This docu is split into three parts: the main film (which is a little over an hour), a 23-minute commentary with all four guys, and a short (I think it's 12-15 mins?) "quiz show". So, like the rest of the docus, it all adds up to an hour and 30 mins +/-.

IMO, the only "downside" is that the docu is only available for sale on Weverse, so that's a bit of a barrier for casuals and locals. Like all things, ofc, there are other places to find it at, IJS.

In any case, I was mesmerized, charmed, and delighted at seeing this aspect of Jimin. Especially since all but 1 of the songs from his first album were co-written by him! I'm giving this docu a 4.5 out of 5.




RM: Right People, Wrong Place (2024)


NO spoilers, just a bit of rambling from when I went to see this docu in the theaters.

This movie is all about Namjoon's process during this second solo album, Right Place, Wrong Person (often abbreviated to rpwp.) It first debuted in October '24 at the Busan International Film Festival to a ton of acclaim. THANKFULLY, there was a weeklong worldwide distribution deal in early December '24. At the time, I didn't know when or even IF the movie was gonna be available for purchase (it is! Over at Weverse as of late spring, IIRC),so I headed to the movies.

What follows is a transcript of what posted elsewhere:

Starting with: I didn't cry while watching it, but now that I am painfully slowly processing what I just watched, I have teared up almost to the point of fully crying. Because I am SO fucking moved by how much access there was into Kim Namjoon's psyche. For those that have watched the 2-part "All Day" RM thing from 2 yrs ago, this docu is a similar vibe BUT MORE INTENSE.

In some ways, this docu was like the indie version of Jimin's "Production Diary". Same approach to how an artist creates and how having a team helps the artist until an album is born. Aside from the obvious (two different artists for two different albums), the most stark difference is that Smeraldo Garden Marching Band (what Jimin named his team) was all BH while Team RM brought in a whole new crew.

Moving on, hehehe. A+ cinematography too! It was a v. visually stimulating (tho not to the point of becoming overwhelming) movie.

*EXTREMELY MILD SPOILER* They also show all of the MVs behind-the-scenes. Which was a treat. And it explains why there weren't any Bangtan bombs for those videos.*END OF THE EXTREMELY MILD SPOILER*

I know this docu has a super limited release window (it's 2 wks in the US, I think?)--which is a real shame. Because EVERYONE (both ARMYs and locals) would benefit from watching this movie. I cannot think of anyone who wouldn't be super šŸ˜ by the end of it.

Sadly, I couldn't stay til the credits rolled. 🄲 The lights went on and the usher came by. I was robbed of the experience. ROBBED I TELL YOU! Anyways, 1000000000/5 docu. I am even more in love with Joonie than before. šŸ˜…

shadowhive: (5SOS Luke Pretty)
shadowhive ([personal profile] shadowhive) wrote2025-08-24 07:39 pm

That colour was blue

Past few days have been, predictably low energy but it was even more so cause of Thursday.

Mum had ordered something from Sainsburys so off we went to get it… and of course came back with a bunch of other stuff, some of which (dog food) weighed heavy. I did get some things though, Argos had a Funko darth mail on his speeder on clearance and sainsburys itself had one of the new Lego fortnite sets on sale (with the cute lil llama!). I said I’d get it if I saw it on sale so I did. They also had some animal crossing ones (the set wi5 Leif and the able sisters, as well as Celeste’s one) but I had Celeste’s and wasn’t sure on the others.

When I got back I had noms, built the set and then just… flipped in bed where I ended up zoning out completely.

That night was good in the sense that I watched the next Alien Earth and the eps title (metamorphosis) really felt like it was leading in a direction that it didn’t go. Something that happened midway through was also surprising, so I’m really not sure what’s going to happen next. Which is exciting! I am kinda hoping that Boy Kavalier makes it through the series, though I sense he won’t.

I’ve been doing odd runs of Blue Prince lately to mixed success. Yesterday I had one that made me kick myself. I got the vault but dead ended myself so called it a day… as soon as I did I mentally screamed cause I had the shrine! I could’ve used the 40+ coins I had on it but instead wasted them ugh.

Tonight I felt I had a bad run too.i got the secret garden key but blocked off the east entrance it opens. I used the key anyway and the next room I drafted was the workshop with a battery pack. I was pretty happy cause that meant I could unlock the sealed passage outside, but it also meant I could unlock the west door with the garden.

Thankfully I got a room that opened the west entrance, so I could get and use the basement key, but I was also able to open the 46th door! Thankfully I had the steps to go back and I was able to get the end credits! Now I know that isn’t really the end of the game cause there’s loads of other puzzles (like the locked sanctum doors for one) but still finishing the main objective does feel pretty good.

I’ve been back to watching things and, other than the aforementioned Alien Earth there’s been Hell Motel, which was Blake centric so I knew he was doomed. The ep made me really root for him, because he was right to tie the others up (for all he knows at least one of them is a killer but the audience knows there’s also two other killers too) but damn the flashbacks of him… hopefully we can finish the series the next few days cause there’s two eps left!

Last night I finally went back to Cabinet Of Curiosities. I’d watched the first four.originally so this was ep five Pickman’s Model. As I said to [personal profile] fleshdoll last night it gave the vibe of A Ghost Story For Christmas (which are half hourish adaptions of spooky short stories the bbc do for christmas Eve night) which was further confirmed by the episode being an adaption of a short story (a Lovecraft one, which I sensed by the place names).

It was pretty well done, and had the guy that played Prince Caspian from the narnia movies as the main guy and the payoff of those last scenes was really good. Overall it was solid so I’m looking forward to seeing the others. (I might put one on tonight)

Also last night was the BMTH Reading set. I’d not listened to them properly for awhile (bar an odd few songs) but it was a pretty good set. The staging was really well done (I’ve not idea what the cgi characters are about but I’m curious) and it always takes me out when Oli speaks. But you could also tell how emotional he was about playing on a big stage which was sweet. Also based of them to have Palestinian flags being waved on stage during the final song.

(I’m hoping Waterparks set gets added to iplayer but the uploading is spotty. The livestream did have ten minutes of their set, but of course that was when DND was. Hopefully the full set will be up tonight which would be better than watching just three songs)

Today’s been Wednesday, which was an ep that did solve one mystery h why the sheriff thought Gomez was a killer) and I’m glad that the bee boy is alive (and has two mums!)

There’s not many plans for next week. I hope I do have the focus for reading Clown In A Cornfield, as well as writing. I am still planning on going to the cinema Tuesday, hopefully for Freakier Friday and the mystery horror film. (In theory I could watch a third thing but that might be too much).

I have also been noting down the things I wanna do in spooky season/october, which I might post after some more thoughts/additions.
klb: (Default)
podklb ([personal profile] klb) wrote in [community profile] pod_together2025-08-23 03:20 pm
Entry tags:

Podfic Deadline Reminder & Project Submission Checklist

Hey all, tomorrow is the podfic deadline! As long as your project is submitted while it's still August 24th anywhere in the world, you're on time!

If you don’t think you’ll be able to finish in time, read over the rules and request an extension. Please email us today if you need an extension instead of waiting until tomorrow.

Here is a checklist of everything you need when turning your project in!

If the text and podfic are in a single post:
  1. Add every group member as a co-author on the AO3 post

  2. Include a download link for the podfic at the TOP of the post

  3. Include a streaming link for the podfic at the TOP of the post (either embedded streaming, or a link to where people can click to stream the podfic)

  4. Make sure the post is published in the pod_together 2025 collection (don't just save it as a draft!)

  5. Contact the mods to let us know you're finished!


If the text and podfic are in separate posts:
  1. Create and publish an AO3 post for the podfic in the pod_together 2025 collection (don't just save it as a draft!)

  2. In the podfic post, include a link to the text post at the TOP of the post

  3. In the text post, include a link to the podfic post at the TOP of the post

  4. In the podfic post, include a download link for the podfic

  5. In the podfic post, include a streaming link for the podfic (either embedded streaming, or a link to where people can click to stream the podfic)

  6. Contact the mods to let us know you're finished!


Also, if your project centers one or more characters of color, please feel free to add it to our Pod_Together Characters of Color Love collection to make it easier to find for listeners who would like to prioritize listening to those stories first!

Final stretch! Good luck to all, and don't forget to give your partner(s) some appreciation once everything's all done!
turps: (dalek)
turps ([personal profile] turps) wrote2025-08-23 03:01 pm

(no subject)

Thank you [personal profile] misbegotten for the excellent postcard ♥

I got a comment on one of my old bandom fics. I replied to the comment and the person replied again mentioning that they were exactly one month younger than the fic. Omg, talk about feeling old.

Kayleigh, Lucy and Bodhi are home, as sadly their holiday ended up being a bit of a nightmare. It was going okay until one night they'd walked to eat at a restaurant near their hotel/the beach cut for details but no one is injured or hurt )

I've been watching Parenthood on Netflix and really enjoying it. It reminds me of Brothers and Sisters and This Is Us, though it hasn't made me cry like This Is Us tended to do. There's time yet though, I've just reached the end of season one and have quite a few seasons to go.

After swimming on Thursday I was having a discussion with James about him maybe getting his own gym membership instead of relying on my guest passes as he's been quite often lately. We asked about prices as we were leaving the pool, and of course, got the spiel about it being cheaper to pay for a year at once. But we said we'd need to think about it more, and it's good that we did as literally, just after getting into the car someone from the doctor's phoned.

James had asked if his GP could ask about the GP exercise referral scheme which is partnered with the gym I go to. They'd done so, and end result is, James now has a discount card that means any drop in sessions at the gym only cost him £3. Between that and the two free guest passes a month, he doesn't need his own membership, so thank goodness he didn't say yes to signing up.
pensnest: cartoon Mycroft, caption 'never mind your usual trivia' (Mycroft never mind trivia)
pensnest ([personal profile] pensnest) wrote2025-08-22 01:51 pm

nothing's off limits

I am charmed to discover that there is a fandom on AO3 for Cautionary Tales - Hilaire Belloc, and that I am therefore not the first person to post such an item. \o/
shadowhive: (5SOS Luke Restrained)
shadowhive ([personal profile] shadowhive) wrote2025-08-20 10:36 pm

(no subject)

I was looking at the cinema times for October, mostly to see if they have Frankenstein up (they don’t) and they are showing a bunch of spooky films on rewind. So far there’s Curse Of Frankenstein, Donnie Darko, The Exorcist, A Nightmare On Elm Street, It Follows, Halloween, Scream and The Thing.

What’s strange is that Halloween isn’t being shown… on Halloween. Instead it’s being shown on the 24th which feels like an odd choice.

But I’ve only seen 3 of those (Donnie Darko, Halloween and Scream) do people rec the others? (It Follows is a no go though due to timing)

(And speaking of the cinema it keeps more K-Pop Demon a Hunter showings. I’m sure it only had one per day originally, then went to four and now it’s at 8. I just wish they weren’t all sing alongs.)

Today I did a comics order, cause I’m not going to Birmingham any time soon I decided it was for the best. I was gonna order from forbidden planet but it would’ve been Ā£5 postage for two issues so instead I just did an order on eBay. So I’ve got the next two Exquisite Corpses, The Umbrella Academy and Event Horizon Dark Descent.

That last one was a surprise for me cause I had NO an idea it even existed until I saw an article today. It’s a prequel to the film and I’m so hyped and I was planning on watching the film for spooky season anyway so this gave me more incentive.

Because Seapeekay has been playing Blue prince I’ve ended up going back on it and I’ve made some progress. I have all the blue flames light, I finally got to the antechamber (though not with enough steps to use the key😭) and I did the chess puzzle. I feel I could get to room 46 soon though I also sense there’ll be more puzzles.

I have to admit I am using guides a bit, but that’s mostly because I can’t actually read the text clues half the time. (I even struggle seeing the text on room upgrades) Makes me wish I was playing it on the switch (is it on switch??) but I guess it’s a sign my eyes are getting worse. Or that it needs an option to increase text sizes (but I guess they won’t cause of the magnifying glass)

But the past two days (other than seeing Weapons) has been low energy. I think I’ve been drained from the weather, the argument with mum and just being so bleh in general. Last night I ended up just laying in the dark with the PokĆ©mon stream on and I just… zoned out and drifted off. It’s so annoying especially that it’s been so frequent lately. Meh.

Mail came today and it was a mix of eh (a clearly scam letter) and yay (the adorn magazine I ordered with Luke Hemmings). Luke looks so pretty in it and I wish I had the focus to read but alas I don’t.

That’s another annoyance mostly cause I wanna read Clown In A Cornfield but just don’t seem to have the focus for it. Bleh.

But also yay the Black a series Night Trooper I ordered came yesterday which looks cool, though I didn’t get a chance to look at it cause food shop.

Tomorrow it’s heading out to pick up something mum ordered and then who knows.

Next few days I hope I have the focus to read (if not Clown at least Exquisite Corpses), I wanna get back to Hell Motel and there’s Reading And Leeds showings. There’s only two actual shows (Chappell Roan and Bring Me The Horizon) so I hope iplayer gets the full Waterparks set. Walsall pride is this weekend but I don’t feel up to it, between general mood and not feeling peoplely.

As for tonight I was hoping to watch the new Alien Earth, but the future games show ran longer than I expected so I’m less sure about that.
glitteryv: (Default)
Glittery ([personal profile] glitteryv) wrote2025-08-20 01:27 pm
Entry tags:

ANOTHER BOOK POST? SO SOON??? !!!

Re-reads. HUH

None for this post.


I DNF'd

* Death Has Golden Eyes by Cameron Darrow (Parnormal Mystery/Thriller) - Sometime during WW 2, the Nazis used dark magic resulting in a portal to another dimension called The Realm. All sorts of supernatural creatures have crossed over. Desdemona "Dizzy: Dixon happens to be the world'S expert on all things abt The Realm. She moves to the countryside with the sole intention to investigate Realm-related activity in the area. Accompanied by a sentient fox and a 130-y.o. female vampire, Dizzy's first assignment involves two werewolves who showed up at her door. One of them is dead and the other one is unconscious. It'S now up to Dizzy to figure out what's going on...

I wish I could remember who or where I saw the rec for this book. If only so I could give that person a piece of my mind, LOLsob. The premise sounds cool enough already. But i know I picked it up cuz Dizzy is queer AND she's gonna have some kind of romance with another female character in the first novel of a new series.

Unfortch, the writing style was ATROCIOUS and LABYRINTHINE to the point of 🤬.

I BRING RECEIPTS!


- [Context: part of how the female vampire is described] "Solid black eyes--pupil, iris, and sclera--reflected as much as they saw, making them as unnerving as they were arresting. On humans, silver hair was sign of decay, but Azalea's was a vibrant river of mercury. The glint from the sharp curtains she'd slashed into it to best frame her angular face cast faint iridescent highlights across skin so sublimely pale it was as if she was wearing her bones on the outside."

Ooookay. I guess the idea was to make Azalea seem creepy yet attractive? IDEK.


- [Context: Description of Dizzy, the main character] "Nature had made Dizzy a gamine, but a lifelong love of dance and swimming had made it difficult to find off-the-rack options that accounted for the fact that she was, in fact, female, and wanted to present like it."

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? Did she gain weight and/or muscle to such a degree that she couldn't buy clothing at regular stores?? *Hands*


- [Context: Description of Dizzy's eyes] " A brilliant crystalline green that made most emeralds look like stained glass by comparison, they had always drawn attention--both to the hue and how far apart they were. Despite being nicknamed 'Hammerhead' as a child, her appreciation for sharks had only deepened as she aged: strong, graceful, able to rend the occasional limb from a human being and get away with it.."

😶😶😶

FTR, whenever I'm not sure abt a book, I try to read until page 50-100 (depending on the size of the book). IIRC, I gave up by, like, page 20 (or early in Chapter 2). IF, for whatever reason, anyone's interested in this novel, check out the sample first. I gave this a 1 out of 5.



Had an awesome time at first (but it all went downhill from there)


* The End of Her by Shari Lapena (Domestic suspense) - Stephanie and Patrick are parents to newborn twins. They're trying to keep things afloat (Patrick at his job as an architect at the firm he's founded with a partner; Stephanie at home taking care of colicky babies) the best they can. But they're also quite frazzled.

One day, a woman shows up accusing Patrick of something and that's when everyone starts to wonder WHO THEY REALLY MARRIED...

Let me state for the record that, out of this author's 9 books, I've read 6 of them. Although I wouldn't call myself a fan, I'm also aware that there's something in this author's books that I gravitate toward. This one, just like the rest, is extremely readable.

It's also a good domestic suspense...for the first half at least. There's a moment around the 52-56% where things get turned upside down. And that's when everything goes BONKERS. This is something that this author always does, so I just shook my head and kept reading til the end.

There are two reasons why this book is in this section:

1. One of the 10 (!) POV characters has a RIDICULOUS flip in their storyline. I wish the author had taken some time to establish said "flip" cuz it legit came out nowhere. I can rationalize an explanation for that switch, but ehhh.

2. NO SPOILERS FOR THIS NEXT THING

So, IN THE LAST CHAPTER, it's hinted that something terrible is gonna happen and that's underlined by the focus on a handful of characters as "potential suspects". Then the book ends. Next is an epilogue when the bad thing is over with...but the book never makes it clear WHO was involved???!!

To me, that ending reads incomplete AF.

I do have to add a strong trigger warning

for
a pregnant character who gets murdered (the child dies in utero). There are a few descriptions of that the corpse looked like in the aftermath. There's also undiagnosed post-partum depression in at least 2 of the female characters.


I gave this book a 2 out of 5.


* A Crown of Deceit & Ruin by Jessaca Wilis (YA fantasy) - This is the first book in a series abt a world where the ruling monarchs have a curse on them that will transform them into actual monsters.

Elora is a princess who has been held captive for decades. Kestrel is an older teen who leaves the tower she's lived at for years in order to find her father. Their paths intertwine (sorta) and soon, there's a race for a cure for the curse.

I gotta admit that this book had me HOOKED for the first 40%. Really liked the writing style, the worldbuilding (including a really cool magic system), and both MCs were likable enough to make me root for them.

HOWEVER, I started to feel some SUS vibes the closer I got to the halfway mark.

My issues with this novel both stem from the marketing:


1. This book is classified as an "adult novel."

This is NOT true at all! The book is an upper YA novel.

Kestrel is 19-y.o.--which is something that's brought up in the book several times. Elora is of an undetermined age. She herself doesn't know her exact age. HOWEVER, she mentions that the first time she died, she was 20 y.o.. and so, that's the age she'll look like until she dies for realsies. [NB: this is due to her race of ppl having the ability to resurrect themselves.]

In addition, Elora's main storyline is abt regaining her freedom after being held captive for decades. As for Kestrel, her initial storyarc is abt her leaving her home to go find Thom (who is her "father"). In reality, her narrative is a coming of age: finding out how the world works, learning abt social interactions, etc. Basically, Kestrel's tale centers on her growing up a little (not fully maturing, per se.) Kestrel, whose perspective carries most of the story (even though this novel has dual POV), and her character journey aren't anything I'd ever define as adult.


2. This novel is being promoted as a "slow-burn sapphic fantasy romance".

Which is a complete misrepresentation!

There's a marked difference between a fantasy book with some romantic elements (which is what this book actually IS) and an actual!fantasy romance.

Stating that a book is a sci-fic/western/fantasy/what-have-you romance indicates a series of things that SHOULD BE PRESENT IN THE TEXT. And that doesn't happen here.

FULL SPOILERS AHEAD for this so-called "romance" as well as the ending! IT'S RANTING TIME!

- The foundation of the entire plot of ANY romance novel comes from the romance itself.

Which doesn't happen in this book. The actual!story is abt finding a way to cure a curse, Elora gaining her freedom, and Kestrel learning abt who she is. The romance between Kestrel and Elora is wayyy in the background and NOT what fuels or influences the plot.


- Romances include several moments in which the characters are thinking abt each other a lot, pining away, as well as having plenty of cute/sweet interactionss that could be read as friendly or romantic.

Footage not found

Keeping in mind that this an almost 450-page book, Elora and Kestrel don't meet until right after the halfway point. These are all of their 1:1 "moments":

- A short conversation outside of the castle's library;
- A scene in which Elora comforts Kestrel with some kind words at the gardens;
- A chapter in which Elora and Kestrel practice dancing in an empty ballroom. FTR, this is the ONLY part that has them being mildly flirty with each other. NGL, this chapter feels like it belongs in a completely different book;
- During the novel's climax (starting around the 75% mark), there's a quick scene in which Elora thinks of Kestrel as her princess. Out of nowhere.
- When the book ends, the two of them share a v. passionate kiss before going off into a new adventure.

That's literally it.

So I ask y'all: WHERE'S THE ROMANCE?

The book spends so long setting up an admittedly complicated world that the romance is pushed off-page for the majority of the novel. Until, the last 15% of the story. By then, it not only feels v. late to bring it up, but it also makes the romance come across as totally unearned. It should've been built up way, way back.

I'm NOT saying Elora and Kestrel had to be head over heels with each other at first glance and fingering each other every chance they got or whatever. But creating a successful slow burn takes time and attention. This author did worked on crafting an engaging, action-heavy plot. She "just" forgot all abt the romance. šŸ™ƒ

MOVING ON.


- The main conflict in a romance novel might/will potentially and temporarily break the couple up.

This next thing is SUCH a joke, y'all.

OK, so it turns out that Thom, the man that Kestrel has considered her father since she was a child, is also the man that Elora knows as Darius Graeme. He was the leader of the group that tortured Elora (under the king's order) for at least TWENTY YEARS. Upon hearing that the queen's army has captured Darius and is bringing him back to be judged, Elora's freaking out cuz that's how terrified she is of him and that's how intense her PTSD is. The one (1) thing that calms Elora down is remembering that the queen has promised her that she can use her death powers on Darius.

Me: Ohh, this is gonna be messy. OJO!

What actually happens: Elora and Kestrel have one (1) argument abt Thom | Darius, then they apologize the next time they meet. And, before they head off to the find the potential curse cure, Elora sneaks Kestrel into the dungeons so Kestrel can talk to her "father". Finally, Darius|Thom apologizes to Elora and she forgives him.

Me: wow, this book has truly 🤔 me, LOLsob.


So, not an adult novel and NOT a "slow-burn sapphic fantasy romance". I did finished it in 1 day. The action scenes were top notch and I did liked some of the plot aspects. Although I don't regret reading it, I am not continuing the series. I gave this one a 2 out of 5 (and, again, it's the writing and action scenes that are carrying that ranking.)


Good vibes all around

* The Duke Makes Me Feel... by Adriana Herrera (Historical Romance) - Marena owns and runs an apothecary in London. She's v. popular with the aristocracy. One day, the Duke of Liney shows up. He doesn't need any of her tonics, teas, etc. But he does want Marena to help him find a friend of hers...

Per what I know, this was the author's first historical and wow! Loved the premise, the worldbuilding, the MCs, and (even better) the surprise!queer characters too! A++++ for the sex scenes and the diversity of the world this author created too (which read a lot more like real life than a lot of other historical romances that ONLY feature white ppl, IJS.)

As I understand it, this was part of an anthology called The Duke I'd Like to F... that's no longer available in ebook form. So this author rereleased this novella. I borrowed it from my amazing library.

My gripe had more to do with the HFN ending (some of the conflicts that came up in the story remained unresolved by the novella's end.) Also, I did find both MCs (but mainly the Duke) to be a bit too perfect?

I gave this book a 3 out of 5.


* Monseiur X by Adriana Herrera (Historical romance) - Joseph Cantor Marshall is one of the most sought-after painters in Paris. He's v. lonely (and horny), tho. So he goes to an exclusive sex club where he has a wild time with a man who goes by "X".

Imagine Cantor's surprise when it turns out his v. next client is "X" himself, a shy Lord...

Again, delicious writing, diverse characters (both MCs are biracial), plenty of naughty times (centered around kink), and enough plot to keep everything together. I had a fantastic time reading this story in an an afternoon. This was part of ANOTHER anthology titled Rake I'd Like to F... that I think is out of publication. So Herrera republished this novella (thank you, my dearest local library!)

If only this had been a full novel. Alas! I gave this one a 3.3 out of 5


Current fic tally

Last post, it was 134 read/70 DNF'd. As of today, I'm at 148 read/74 DNF'd. Not bad!


Up next...

In an effort to avoid a potential reading slump, I've picked up an Ilona Andrews. I have a handful of queer romances I might give a read or two.

Unfortch, I returned Thursday Murder Club something like 3 days after my last book post cuz my mood reading self wasn't feeling it. I've since requested it again (LOL), and will try to stick with it til page 50 at least, LOL.
turps: (bite me)
turps ([personal profile] turps) wrote2025-08-20 05:00 pm

(no subject)

I'm looking after Kayleigh's cats and tortoise atm, visiting twice a day, and man, having the two kittens makes the job so much harder. Fun, but I totally understand why the phrase like herding cats was invented.

We went to see Materialists yesterday, and while I really enjoyed watching Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal, I can't say it gripped me, so I wouldn't really rec.

James also had an appointment with his back doctor. It was at the private hospital and when we got there we were told there was a 40-min delay. But in the end we only waited about 20 minutes, probably because the consultant was rattling through his appointments. James' literally took less than two minutes, asked if the pain was back, told yes, okay, can have the injections again, appointment will be sent as soon as possible, then done, out we went.

Today was weight management class, cut for those who don't want to read )

I finally picked up my new compressions today. I actually got the thigh high pair last week, but those are meant for use in the house or just pottering around, so I haven't worn them much. But today I got the below knee ones meant for every day, and you know I'm going to wear the blue patterned ones tomorrow.

I'm going swimming again tomorrow morning. So it'll be cats, swimming and then back home to tidy up and move furniture as my MiL is coming to spend the week on Friday. I'm just hoping James' appointment doesn't come really early as there's already an overlap of looking after the cats and my MiL. I could do without James' being down for the count, too.
glitteryv: (Default)
Glittery ([personal profile] glitteryv) wrote2025-08-19 12:44 pm

Fannish 50 S3 Post 32: BTS Vlogs!

So BORAMONTH was busy AF. Then July was a hot mess of a month. Therefore, here I am in August to finish my BTS-centric posts (for now, as we all wait for new content to drop, heheh.). Starting with the [BTS Vlog] videos...

Back in 2022, BTS released individual vlogs. Varying in length and theme, each video had a particular type of charm that I feel will be appreciated by anyone whether or not they're a fan. I've gone ahead and grouped them by topic

Travels

RM goes to Art Basel in Switzerland. He's soaking up all of the art, being all dreamy while enjoying life, and basically nerding out all the while. What's not to love?




Taehyung takes us along for a long day and drive. We follow him to the dentist (!!!), listen to him crooning along with some music, and just having a chill time.




Jungkook spends a night camping at the beach.




Work

Hobi invites us to look at the creative process for the filming of his MV for "Arson"




Arts & Crafts

This last batch are my faves.

Starting with Jin who takes a cooking lesson from his close friend, Chef Lee Yeonbok.




Jimin learns how to make metal jewelry. He's an absolute cutie from start to finish.




30 mins of 🄵 as Yoongi makes 7 whale-shaped cutting boards. This is Yoongi nerding out abt woodworking. It also has lots of close-ups of his hands... *SWOONS*.

shadowhive: (Billy Spell)
shadowhive ([personal profile] shadowhive) wrote2025-08-18 03:43 pm

Are you watching?

This is gonna be another film post, since the past few days have been watching stuff.

I did hope to watch The Loved Ones Saturday but I didn’t manage it cause my eyes and focus were too off. I did watch the next Agatha Christie’s Marple, At Bertram’s Hotel. I recognised a name in the credits but couldn’t place her so I looked it up between the parts and it turned out to be the original Mon Mothma from Return Of The Jedi (and somehow mum recognised her too which is wild cause of how different she looked).

(Though yay new 5 Seconds Of Summer got teased again, though I didn’t watch Micheal’s veep stream cause it felt too much and the timing was off)

Sunday though was a big watch things day. I finished the new Phineas And Ferb which were really fun.im glad more are coming though and I might have to rewatch some.

I always watched the next Wednesday ep, which was Woe What A Night, most notable for her dancing which… was a thing. I still love Tyler the cute barista guy. (Is the guy shirtless and collared in the season 2 trailer. I wanna know what the deal is there??) but yeah it was a good ep though ugh I hate those jerksass bullies.

There there was the first of 3 films. Section 31.

I’d been curious about it cause the trailer looked good and I did love Michelle Yeoh’s Georgiou. It was meant to be a series, but then ended up being a film instead. Overall it was pretty good. After a flashback to the Terran empire (who has a battle royale/hunger games thing to decide emperors) it goes into the present with the main story. It is ā€˜split’ into three parts, which makes it feel episodic even though it’s all the same thing. Overall it is pretty good, I did like the team she was paired with though I did wish we got to know them a bit more. But at the same time it did feel it played things ā€˜safe’ in places. Like section 31 don’t do anything really immoral, plus a few twists can be seen coming. It was funny that there was a voiceover art the start and I was so sure I recognised her voice and, sure enough I did and it was Jamie Lee Curtis. Wild.

I do wonder if there’ll be a follow up cause there is potential there, though I feel there won’t be.

Then there was The Loved Ones which was an absolutely crazy time. Brent is so cute and I could see why Lola went for him, though damn I felt so bad for him. (And the self harm scars…) It goes a few places I didn’t expect (the basement, the dane, the mom) plus there was the contrast of Brent going through the horrors while it cut to his friend having his best night. Kudos to the film makers though, we love films where boys are in pain.

Today I was gonna go and see Weapons, but I almost didn’t, cause as I was getting ready to leave mum decided to start an argument so I missed the train I was hoping to catch. Thankfully I got the next one, though it meant I couldn’t pick up a drink or anything.

The trailers for films were mostly ones I’d seen before (The Black Phone 2, Him), new ones of things I’d seen before (The Conjuring, The Long Walk) and there were 2 completely new ones, The Toxic Avenger which looks like it could be fun though I dunno if I’ll go to the limited run of it and the strangers chapter 2 which looked pretty good though I’ve not seen the first.

I’m not gonna say much about the film itself. It’s one I think it’s best to see blind, but I thought it was really great and I was glad to see it. It fits a lot of things I like, it’s an investigating type horror (especially at the start) and it’s also like The Grudge where you have sections following individual characters and they intersect. But I won’t say more than that.

I will say I was surprised when I saw it was rated 18… until the two scenes which are clearly responsible.

I’d say if you watched the trailers and were in any way intruiged go and see it and avoid spoilers.

I had considered seeing Freakier Friday too, but decided not to. Both cause my mindset was a bit off but also because it feels like Weapons isn’t a film you’d wanna make a double bill of (if that makes sense) which I did suspect. So instead I just went in the big Tesco (I got the nee sfx, a chibi drawing book and some colouring pencils. I’ve not even opened the sfx cause it’s Wednesday centric and I sense I’ll see spoilers (or Tyler? Shirtless and collared and get distracted).

So since Wednesday is the end of the first month of having the cinema pass (since I’m not gonna be going tomorrow) that means with the first month I’ve watched:
*Fantastic 4 First Steps
*I Know What You Did Last Summer
*Superman
*Mystery film - Together
*Weapons

Without the pass I’d probably have seen two of those, First Steps and Superman so I have seen more films already than I would have without it. And I am glad I’ve seen them all as they’ve all been pretty good in their own ways. (My fav is probably Fantastic Four)

For the second month I dunno how many I’ll see, mostly cause the coming soon for the month isn’t fully up. However there IS another mystery film next week so I’m hoping to see that with Freakier Friday. (I’m less sure what this mystery film is cause it’s 18 and there’s not an 18 rated film in the coming soon section other than the toxic avenger and I suspect it’s not that.) K-Pop Demon Hunters is getting a cinema this weekend but I’m not sure if I will see it. I am tempted to see the Jaws showing, plus there’s gonna be Thunderbirds next month and I’m definitely going to see that (though it does come out on the third month’s first day).

I said this before too but what’s with October 17th? Now there’s a fourth thing happening that day. Netflix are gonna have a cinema showing for Frankenstein (the new one with Oscar Isaac) and I hope the cinema gets it and it’s not just a nighttime showing.

Now though I’m just gonna flop a bit and maybe fic later depending on my brain.
pensnest: Drawing of woman in fan-like headdress, caption Get yo freak on (Victorian Freak On)
pensnest ([personal profile] pensnest) wrote2025-08-18 03:14 pm
Entry tags:

rocking the microphone*

Cars seem to be getting colourful again. For quite a while you could look at a car park and see serried ranks of black, white, and all shades of grey from charcoal to palest silver, but hardly any colour. Now, when I go to the gym, there are reds (Mazda red is The Best Red), blues, and some outliers. There were four green cars this morning: a Mini in a nice hunting green, something flashy in 'dark lizard', something that looked like mint green with milk in it, and something like a melted lime Opal Fruit Starburst. And a yellow. And we've seen an obnoxious purple which is something very flash, maybe a Lamborghini.

*

Well. We had an all-day rehearsal yesterday for my mixed chorus, and the day before that there was Ruffmead Fest, the mini music festival in someone's back garden. I had initially baked for this, cheese and rosemary shortbread biscuits, which sounded nice but... came out of the oven in think, pitiful smudges on the baking tray and crumble when I breathed on them, let alone tried to pick them up. So I made devilled eggs instead.

And I performed a poem.

* there was no actual microphone, although the hosts had thoughtfully provided a cardboard one

I can't remember if I ever put this up on my journal before, so I shall included it under the cut. As we no longer live in the Victorian era, when the minor transgressions of small children (like chewing bits of string) were punished with, well, death, I thought a Modern Day Matilda would be appropriate. There are a few phrases directly attributable to Hilaire Belloc, and the discerning long-term reader will also notice that it draws from my earlier take on this theme, The Story of James Lance, who Told Lies, and Came to a Sticky End.

I think I shall put it on my AO3, but am a bit at a loss as to fandom.

Read more... )
turps: (beach)
turps ([personal profile] turps) wrote2025-08-17 04:27 pm

(no subject)

It was our first craft fair of the year yesterday, so the days before involved checking through stock while James finished off new items. With him having to cancel a few fairs last year after breaking his elbow, there was lots to sell. It was held at our local cat only vet in aid of Consett Cats, and went very well. It's a small space so things got crowded, but we managed. And a bonus, I didn't adopt any of the adorable kittens there for cat cuddles. I was exhausted last night, though, ready for bed at eight, but managed to hold on to nine.

On the subject of broken elbows, James was finally discharged from physio. They said they've pretty much done all they can for him and his grip and strength is much better. He still can't get his hand to his mouth, but at this point the only thing that may help that is surgery and neither of us are keen on that happening as it would be very little gain for a big risk. Not that he's had an appointment to discuss the CT scan results yet, so surgery may not even be an option whether he wants it or not.

We went swimming again last week, got to the pool and the receptionist said, are you aware the pool shuts at 9:30 for an aqua aerobics class? And no, no I was not aware. But we got a good 40 minutes swimming so better than nothing.

B12 injection day again on Thursday and I went from the doctors to the gym. Can't say I felt any more energetic, though did do a 45 minute recumbent cycle session so maybe there was a bit of a boost going on. It was actually great at the gym as it was nearly empty for most of the time I was there. Which was good as they'd completely ran out of hygiene wipes so no one could wipe down the machines after use. Which was pretty gross and I cleaned mine the best I could with the hem on my t-shirt.

We went to see Freakier Friday and it was fun, a good way to spend a couple of hours.

Weight management class was about unhelpful thinking patterns, and it was one of the best classes I've been to yet cut for those not interested )